Journal of Forensic Research

The Emergence of Community Policing in Karnataka: An Analysis

Abstract

Santosh R Pujar and Mangoli RN

Community policing is a practice prevalent in India for ages wherein the people from the neighborhood participate in the system as moral police and keep a watch around their locality with an intention to maintain peace and tranquility. As a modern system policing has community involved in its functioning as a mandate now, the major aim being (a) to help police reach places and problems where they have limited access and be omnipresent with civilians as their eyes and ears, (b) to bridge the gap that has long been created between the police and people due to errand ways of police working and reduce the fear that is instilled in common minds. There are many states that have community policing as a practice running successfully.

Although fervent attempts have been made in the state of Karnataka to run this practice successfully as an obligatory system, the one initiated By Janaagraha, an NGO situated in Bangalore has been basking in the limelight since its initiation in June 2013. The attempt has earned popularity and common support as it has started in one police station in each of the 7 zones in the Bangalore city. The present paper is review on the emergence of the practice of community policing in Karnataka state and its modernization with the advent of Janaagraha as a prime mediator between the police and public in recent times. The article is purely based on secondary review and information from newspapers and journals on the subject.